Blogger of Jared

I posted this awhile ago when the Blogger of Jared was born. I noticed it while perusing our archives and thought it might be nice to post again with a few changes.

The question of common sense is always “What is it good for?” - a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage. ~James Russell Lowell

There is a well-worn discussion of intellectualism and whether or not it leads to a form of minor apostasy when the learned clash with the revelators. I have fondly remembered the above quote (in a butchered form) ever since I read it briefly that one time at the place with the stuff and the things. I decided this morning to look it up via the power of Google because I feel that the heart of this quote addresses, rather keenly, the foundations of Mormon intellectualism (MI). For what is MI if not (1)an effort to understand the revelations in their entirety and (2) find place for their application in our lives. In short, to “make sense of it all”

Sadly, James Russell Lowell’s words lead me to believe that perhaps the weakness of possessing an immature form of MI is that in the end, we push out the beautifully complex and incomprehensible parts of the gospel that are available, in this mortal life, only to look at and admire. Then, while spinning in the vortex of a comprehension and application vacuum, we substitute the complex for the simple and edible cabbage. The obvious rebuttal to this is: “What could be beautiful about Priesthood denial based upon skin color or lascivious men taking unto themselves multiple wives?!” Interestingly the conundrum in the existence of the question becomes readily apparent. The question is a manifestation of an attempt to intellectualize the rose. “What is it good for?” Precisely Mr. Lowell, precisely.

I have an “intellectual” friend who has slowly slipped away from the church for just this very reason. There were certain aspects of the church, it’s history, it’s policies and eventually it’s doctrines that led him to label it all a sham. Why? Because it didn’t jive with the “common sense” of the particular country, culture and societal norms under which he was born. In the end, he disregarded the rose in search of the cabbage and found that all the church had to offer him was a rotten cabbage. His is a great tragedy and ours a great paradox. How do we reconcile the divine command to treasure up knowledge and simultaneously avoid, in our quest for supposed intellectualism, trading the rose for the cabbage?

Personally I’m grateful that there is more to the eternities than I can possibly understand with my little brain and yet somewhat remorseful that my “everything must be logical” nature often precludes me from appreciating all the beauty the gospel has to offer.